Travel diary South England, day 1, 2017: Downton Abbey railway station

* Disclaimer: this post is written and uploaded the same day as I've lived it. I'm too tired to read and re-read for any typos or other errors. So my sincere apologies in advance! *

Hallooooo!!

I am currently on a little break. I'll be touring a bit of South to South West England. With also stops in the Oxford area, so a bit more North.

Today's highlight is no doubt the Blue Bells train station. The film location for Dowton Abbey and many many other films such as the Importance of Being Earnest, the Invisible Woman and the Woman in Black.

The day had a rooky start. We missed our 8.40am ferry due to the tightened security checks at customs in Calais. After Manchester, it is a very sensible move. After a bit of stress, we catched the next ferry from Calais to Dover and arrived 1h and 20minutes later than originally planned. Due to these delayes we had to alter our original plan for the day. And as it turns out, we didn't managed to visit everything we had planned in our revised schedule either x) Ashford Outlet Stores can be a dangerous place to visit x)

In Dover we actually saw the latest work of Banksy. To be honest, it was much bigger than I had though and much more impressive to see it in real live rather than on a picture. But here is a picture anyway x)

On our way from Dover to Winchester, we made a stop in Horsted Keynes. A tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but with one gorgeous rail station. Something Belgium can learn from ... *ahum*.

In this particular rail way station they shot Downton Abbey. When we explained why we were there, the ticket manager knew exactly what we were about. We had to buy platform tickets to actually get on the platform, which was a few quid each. BUT we saw an actual steam train pass! Apparently you can take rides with afternoon tea on the steam trains and imagine you're in 1900 something x)

Unfortunately we didn't have the time to take a ride on the train, but the ticket seller was more than helpful and gave us some inside information on the future films that will be shot here, which films have been shot here, which trains were used, etc. Absolutely fascinating :)

From Horsted Keynes we drove to our accommodation in Winchester and had some dinner at the pub at the end of the street.

It's really weird being back here, knowing that the last time I've visited this city was in December, when I was still living in London ... Not anymore. Really odd.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Isle of Wight to visit Osborne, palace to Queen Victoria. Really excited for that one ^^

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara